REIGN OF MARY WITH THE HERALDS

  As you have already read several posts on my trip to Brazil this year, I would like to share with you glimpses into the lives of some of the members of the Heralds of the Gospel that I met.  Since I had 'met' them earlier online courtesy Arautos sem Segredos (Heralds without Secrets) , one of their YouTube channels, I was eager to make my acquaintance with them and request for a photograph with them. To me, they are celebrities worth having digital memories of. At Sedes Sapientae, on 23 May 2025, I met these sisters.  Sr Michelle McDonald  is in the background.  At the Seat Sta Hildegard, I met these sisters. Sr. Lucilia Bassi is one of nine children, eight of whom are religious brothers or sisters in the Heralds of the Gospel.  Sr Kristen, one of our very own Indian sisters, had also transferred recently from Mater Castisimma to Sta Hildegard.  I was especially delighted to meet Sr Maria Antonieta, an octogenarian, whose video I link here for my rea...

 Every pilgrim knows this one fact - you need to keep an eye out for souvenirs! But, I was determined not to get anything that I would regret later when my much awaited trip to Brazil finally happened. Why? Because I had visited Australia twice,  Singapore once and had gone overboard with my souvenir collection. In retrospect, I did regret a few purchases.  So, when I first entered the shop at Tabor, motherhouse of the Heralds of the Gospel, I had just planned to 'browse'. But, when my eyes fell on a beautiful blue rosary, I fell in love with it. I remembered a promise made to a friend to get her husband a blue rosary. This was it! I made my first purchase that day. Muito bonita .  Later, during the pilgrimage and even after, I made quite a few more purchases from that very shop. There was also a gorgeous locket in the shop just outside the gates of Tabor which I bought - one for me and one for my soul sister.  It now houses petals from the tomb of Msgr Joao. ...

Forewarned that there were two hurdles to jump over in Brazil, I had postponed my trip there for as long as I could. These were the language barrier and the transport/accomodation issue. So, when I finally decided to go, I had to literally pray to Dona Lucilia and Msgr Joao to go ahead and 'prepare the way' for me.  The first was the change of my dates for travel. I had planned to go in November for the first death anniversary of Msgr Joao and stay on for Christmas till Epiphany and return by the third week of January 2026. A week into February, I received news of an Indian group going to Brazil on a Heralds pilgrimage. I immediately changed my mind about going alone as I knew many people from this group. (Read about the pilgrimage in previous posts). Then the second change was my travel dates. A friend and her family were also planning to visit around the same time. Their son was traveling a little later than his parents. She suggested that I travel with him instead of the pil...